Formula1 Talk

[MadManCK]

Vettel set the pace in P2. Most did long run tests. But incidents and not paying attention from some drivers caused lots of laps to be disturbed.
Some say the Ferrari is better suited for Monaco, as the wheelbase is a bit shorter. Vettel has created some momentum for Monaco, when he declared himself to be favorite for this race. Bald move. Let's see if he can deliver this weekend.

Stroll took the walk of shame after he lost control near the Casino. Maybe one year of F2 would have been a better option for him.

Both Toro Rosso's did exceptionally well. Sauber must start to feel the age of the Ferrari engines now.

Second free practice results - 2017 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix

Pos. Driver Team Time Laps
1. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:12.720 38
2. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:13.207 35
3. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 01:13.283 45
4. D. Kvyat Toro Rosso 01:13.331 41
5. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 01:13.400 42
6. M. Verstappen Red Bull 01:13.486 35
7. S. Pérez Force India 01:13.799 44
8. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:13.873 31
9. K. Magnussen Haas 01:13.890 45
10. V. Bottas Mercedes 01:13.902 38
11. S. Vandoorne McLaren 01:13.946 41
12. J. Button McLaren 01:13.981 36
13. F. Massa Williams 01:14.003 46
14. R. Grosjean Haas 01:14.022 43
15. E. Ocon Force India 01:14.093 46
16. L. Stroll Williams 01:14.474 27
17. N. Hulkenberg Renault 01:14.870 40
18. J. Palmer Renault 01:15.616 8
19. M. Ericsson Sauber 01:15.691 31
20. P. Wehrlein Sauber 01:15.695 36

[MadManCK]

P3 confirmed that Ferrari is setting the pace this weekend in Monaco.
More interesting is a battle between Mercedes and RBR. And Toro Rosso can still keep up the pace, they showed earlier.

Qualifying will be a tactical event. Lots of drivers ruin laps of others when they slow down to get some clean air in front of them.
I really hope the FIA will repremand them for doing that. Not enough space to be selfish here.

I´m really looking forward to the qualifying later today. Will be good.

Third free practice results - 2017 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix

Pos. Driver Team Time Laps
1. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:12.395 23
2. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 01:12.740 26
3. V. Bottas Mercedes 01:12.830 29
4. M. Verstappen Red Bull 01:12.940 27
5. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:13.230 26
6. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:13.392 24
7. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 01:13.400 27
8. D. Kvyat Toro Rosso 01:13.563 22
9. K. Magnussen Haas 01:13.596 20
10. S. Vandoorne McLaren 01:13.805 21
11. S. Pérez Force India 01:13.936 23
12. J. Button McLaren 01:13.976 26
13. E. Ocon Force India 01:14.072 21
14. F. Massa Williams 01:14.072 28
15. N. Hulkenberg Renault 01:14.283 24
16. R. Grosjean Haas 01:14.547 23
17. L. Stroll Williams 01:14.675 35
18. J. Palmer Renault 01:15.164 25
19. P. Wehrlein Sauber 01:15.291 28
20. M. Ericsson Sauber 01:15.863 26

[Lunytrickz]

[Beardroid91]

Yea a tactical race with 0-1 pitstop needed as the tires last so long, and you just know Button will try the non stop option.

[MadManCK]

You need to stop at least once. Rulez....

Very exciting Qualifying with Kimi beating Vettel fair and square.
Lewis has some serious rear tire issues and had a few moments, showing great car control, but in the end missed out on Q3. TBH a bit strange for a 1.200 people strong F1 team, that can not find the pace in Monaco. Bottas did. So it must be Lewis car somehow.

Max showed early pace, but in the end both Ferraris and Bottas his Mercedes were faster.

Too bad for Button that he inherited Alonso penalties, so despite a very good Qualifying performance to Q3, he still has to start at the back of the pack. What stupid rules are that... IMO rules like that ruin the sport.

Anyway, it was a good afternoon and i´m looking forward to tomorrows race.

Will Vettel try to grab first position in the first corner....Or will the Iceman show his cool

Kimi Raikkonens first pole in years, beating his team mate for the first time this season.
And what a place to do that.

Qualifying results - 2017 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix

Pos. Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 01:13.117 01:12.231 01:12.178 23
2. S. Vettel Ferrari 01:13.090 01:12.449 01:12.221 23
3. V. Bottas Mercedes 01:13.325 01:12.901 01:12.223 30
4. M. Verstappen Red Bull 01:13.078 01:12.697 01:12.496 24
5. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 01:13.219 01:13.011 01:12.998 21
6. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 01:13.526 01:13.397 01:13.162 30
7. S. Pérez Force India 01:13.530 01:13.430 01:13.329 23
8. R. Grosjean Haas 01:13.786 01:13.203 01:13.349 29
9. J. Button McLaren 01:13.723 01:13.453 01:13.613 27
10. S. Vandoorne McLaren 01:13.475 01:13.249 20

11. D. Kvyat Toro Rosso 01:13.899 01:13.516 19
12. N. Hulkenberg Renault 01:13.787 01:13.628 21
13. K. Magnussen Haas 01:13.531 01:13.959 20
14. L. Hamilton Mercedes 01:13.640 01:14.106 18
15. F. Massa Williams 01:13.796 01:20.529 20

16. E. Ocon Force India 01:14.101 7
17. J. Palmer Renault 01:14.696 11
18. L. Stroll Williams 01:14.893 7
19. P. Wehrlein Sauber 01:15.159 11
20. M. Ericsson Sauber 01:15.276 11

[MadManCK]

Some impressions of the Monaco Race Weekend so far

[MadManCK]

Both Kimi Raikkonen as well as Max Verstappen were screwed by their teams with a poor pit stop strategy. Bottas drove a solid race. Hamilton did some damage control. Vettel won. Sainz a well deserved 6th.

Button tried to overtake in a spot Wehrlein did not expect. That crash, even at low speeds, looked nasty with the car hanging on its side. Fortunately he could climb out of his car unharmed. He will get a medical checkup anyway.
Wehrlein did suffer from a broken neck after the race of Champions, causing him to miss the start of this season.

Perez should know by now that a Russian driver won't let you pass. Poor judgment there.

The safety car did add some spice to the race, with the top 5 finishing very close. Max could not get passed Bottas, despite the fresh set of supersoft tires. Mercedes power uphill simply is too much.

A bit sad Kimi did not win this race. But an entertaining event nevertheless.

Race results - 2017 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix

Pos. Driver Team Time
1. S. Vettel Ferrari 1:44:44.340
2. K. Raikkonen Ferrari +3.145
3. D. Ricciardo Red Bull +3.745 +0.600
4. V. Bottas Mercedes +5.517 +1.772
5. M. Verstappen Red Bull +6.199 +0.682
6. C. Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso +12.038 +5.839
7. L. Hamilton Mercedes +15.801 +3.763
8. R. Grosjean Haas +18.150 +2.349
9. F. Massa Williams +19.445 +1.295
10. K. Magnussen Haas +21.443 +1.998
11. J. Palmer Renault +22.737 +1.294
12. E. Ocon Force India +23.725 +0.988
13. S. Pérez Force India +39.089 +15.364
14. L. Stroll Williams +7 Laps
15. D. Kvyat Toro Rosso +7 Laps

Did not finish
16. S. Vandoorne McLaren +12 Laps
17. M. Ericsson Sauber +15 Laps
18. P. Wehrlein Sauber +21 Laps
19. J. Button McLaren +21 Laps
20. N. Hulkenberg Renault +63 Laps

[Beardroid91]

Was indeed a great race, but Kimi was even more frosty, i didn't know it was possible...

But right now Alonso is killing at a Indy 500, he is currently 2nd in the lead, which is very impressive.

[MadManCK]

Some say Kimi and also Max were sacrificed by their teams. At Ferrari to let Vettel increase his lead in the World Championship and at Red Bull to compensate Ricciardo for last years fail and also to keep him happy within the team.

I would say frosty is an understatement in Kimi's case. He knows like no other how Formula 1 works and clearly deserved the win in Monaco. So Ferrari made a pre-determined decision to let Vettel win. And that hurts.

Max was furious and has every right to be. RBR stated that it was a combination of a bad pitstop and an unfortunate held up when they dropped behind Sainz. In reality they fooled Bottas by letting Max pit early. That worked as he followed Max. Allowing Ricciardo to get some free track and do a few fast laps. That pulled him to 3rd after his pit stop. So for him it worked. But at what cost?
It totally makes no sense to pit early, when all weekends testing showed little degradation of the Ultrasofts. So logic determines to drive as long on them as you can, as Lewis Hamilton showed. And he went from P14 to P7.
The decision to bring Max in early was a disaster. Even if Riccardo optimized his tactics and pit strategy to a podium position.
Maybe all the whining about the "team letting Ricciardo down" paid of by favoring him with a better strategy.

If i were Max, i would start negotiations with Ferrari and Mercedes soon®. Maybe not to go there next year, but to show RBR that they should not pull a trick like that on him again.

The comment from Horner that sometimes strategies go well for one driver and bad for the other only partially holds.
In this case it appears to be on purpose to give Ricciardo the edge in Monaco. Even if they will never confirm that.
From a team perspective they were probably right. Before the stops they were 4th and 5th and after 3rd and 5th.

The media covering the Ferrari "incident" were more clear. Raikkonen was sacrificed in favor of Vettel. And i have to agree. And as RBR did the same to Max the conclusion might be the same as well.

[Beardroid91]

Bullshit... Kimi's tires were going out, Vettel had the same issue with them but could bring more life into them.

As for Max, well RBR needed to follow suit on Bottas, and Max was the lead car so he got first pick - which HE made, so stop being so butthurt over it.

And on to a another topic, Alonso was going strong at Indy500 being in the leading top 5 pack, but at lap 179 his Honda engine failed, so he brought his Honda luck with him to Indy500, but atleast this Honda was very competitive as he was 1st and 2nd a good amount of times and stayed in the top 6 leading pack. So tough love for Alonso atleast he did some good racing.